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An interview with Paul Norbury, founder and Chief Executive of Cardwave

15th January 2018

At the end of 2017, Cardwave’s founder and CEO, Paul Norbury shared his thoughts, views and hopes about the EU GDPR and the year ahead (2018) with Business Exchange Magazine. Here you can read what he had to say…

Paul Norbury, founder and CEO of Devizes-based Cardwave Services Ltd, is a true expert when it comes to flash technology. Paul’s passion for flash memory began over 15 years ago, long before smartphones and tablet computers were invented, and in even before SD cards and USB drives existed!

Founded in 2004, today Cardwave is proud to be a market leader in the flash memory market, a trusted advisor and the go-to company for world-class manufacturers, distributors and resellers.

Cardwave’s passion for data, and keeping it secure, also extends to products/services relevant to SMEs and individuals.

How can Cardwave help businesses prepare for the EU GDPR which becomes enforceable in May 2018?

There’s no denying that the GDPR is a big deal. We’ve known about the new legislation since April 2016 but worryingly data breach stats and research indicate that the majority of UK businesses are still far from ready. In October press headlines included ‘“Heathrow probe after ‘security files found on USB stick’”.

Preparing for the new EU General Data Protection Regulations isn’t a quick or easy job, but the ramifications of not being ready don’t bear thinking about. There’s lots of EU GDPR advice and guidance available online, the ICO website – https://ico.org.uk/ – is a good place to start.

One aspect of data security (and EU GDPR compliance) that you can tick off your list quickly, easily and at little cost, is that of keeping data safe on the move. Hardware encrypted USB3.0 flash drives, such as SafeToGo® from Cardwave, offer the perfect solution.

Tell me a bit more about the relevance of SafeToGo and the EU GDPR.

SafeToGo boasts AES 256-bit XTS hardware encryption, which prevents any unauthorised access and keeps your sensitive files 100% safe. This means that should a SafeToGo drive be lost or stolen, what could have been a serious data breach, will be downgraded to just a security breach, and no fine will be incurred.

Come May next year, businesses will face fines of up to 4% of their annual global turnover (or €20 million, whichever is greater) in the event of a data breach. That’s on top of the major business disruption typically associated with such incidents.

What have been the highlights of 2017 for you?

It’s been a challenging year (due to shortages in flash supply) but the team’s hardwork and commitment has been recognised with SafeToGo being named a finalist in the 2017 Computing Security Awards (Encryption Solution of the Year) awards, and Cardwave being featured as a company of best practice within the Parliamentary Review – http://tinyurl.com/y9yaao5k

And looking ahead to 2018, what are you excited about?

Firstly, and most importantly, Swindon Wildcats winning lots of silverware! (Note: Paul is a massive Wildcats fan/supporter. So much so that Cardwave is an official Swindon Wildcats sponsor).

Business wise, 2018 is all about the EU GDPR and data security. We’re committed to helping businesses achieve compliance for data on the move ahead of May, SafeToGo can now be bought via our Amazon shop, as well as through our authorised distributors and resellers, and we’ll be launching SafeToGo Solo (an unmanaged option) for individuals and small businesses early in the New Year.

We’re also busy launching SmartDrive™ in the UK and Europe – www.smartdriveusb.co.uk SmartDrive is a USB drive that delivers more, in that a company can update information stored on a SmartDrive USB after it has been distributed via a Content Management System. This is really exciting functionality which could benefit all sorts of businesses.

Raspberry Pi

Cardwave are delighted to be recognised by the Raspberry Pi Foundation for being a valued partner and supplier. We have enjoyed a close business relationship with the foundation since the massively successful launch of the Raspberry Pi in early 2012. Cardwave works with memory distributor, Xel Electronics, who supply Samsung SD cards to Premier Farnell and RS Components, two of the companies authorised by the charity to supply the Raspberry Pi. We are pleased to work with the foundation again on this superb SD card offering. Visit website